English teacher at $61,000-a-year Dalton School resigns after being accused of sexually abusing student

A teacher at the elite New York school where Jeffrey Epstein once taught has resigned after being accused of sexually abusing a student for two years.

Mara Naaman, 50, resigned four days after the Dalton School received a letter “on behalf of a former student” alleging the English teacher abused them between 2020 and 2022.

Parents at the $61,000-a-year private school were alerted three days later via an email from principal Jose De Jesús, warning them there may be more victims.

“We are only providing the teacher’s name so that anyone with relevant information can provide such information,” he wrote.

“Our priority is to determine the veracity of these claims and determine if there are other allegations of abuse from other members of the community.”

Principal Jose De Jesus told parents that the school was trying to determine the number of victims

Naman, a mother and former Fulbright scholar who described herself as a “writer, scholar, humanist,” was a tenured assistant professor of Arabic and comparative literature at Williams College in Massachusetts, where she spent seven years before joining Dalton in 2017 .

At the school, she taught English literature to students in grades nine through 12 and was appointed a “house counselor,” responsible for “creating a safe space for conversations about personal responsibility,” according to the school’s website.

“Home advisors not only advise on academic matters, but are a ‘sounding board’ for students on all matters, including social and emotional matters,” it explains.

‘In addition, the House Advisor is the most important point of contact between Dalton and the student’s family.’

Former students of the elementary school include journalist Anderson Cooper, actresses Claire Danes and Tracee Ellis Ross, and actor Chevy Chase

The school gained notoriety during the Jeffrey Epstein trial when it emerged that the billionaire pedophile had worked there in 1973 as a science and math teacher, where he tutored the son of former Bear Stearns chairman Alan ‘Ace’ Greenberg, among others.

It was also the focus of a legal action against former principal Gardner Dunnan, who was accused in a 2018 lawsuit of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old student he took in in the 1980s.

Dunnan allowed the girl to be admitted to the school without going through a formal application process, the lawsuit alleged.

Because she was unable to pay tuition, the lawsuit states that the girl was allowed to live with Dunnan and his wife, on the condition that she help them with their newborn baby in their apartment near the school.

Naaman, a graduate of Columbia University, was one of dozens of Dalton employees who signed an “anti-racism manifesto” in 2020 demanding a curriculum overhaul before returning to class after the pandemic.

The eight-page document demanded the hiring of 12 dedicated diversity officers, who would provide half of all donations to New York’s public schools, and the elimination of AP classes if black students’ scores did not equal those of white students students.

School officials emphasized that the document was just a set of “thought starters,” saying it already contained a “commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion and anti-racism, based on our deep appreciation for the dignity of all community members.”

The school has reported the latest allegations to police and has “hired an outside investigative firm, T&M USA LLC, experts in sexual misconduct, to investigate.”

The $61,000-a-year Upper East Side school counts journalist Anderson Cooper, actresses Claire Danes and Tracee Ellis Ross, and actor Chevy Chase among its alumni

The former Fulbright scholar, originally from Michigan, left a tenured position as an assistant professor of Arabic and comparative literature at Williams College in Massachusetts before joining Dalton in 2017.

“The school has clear policies and guidelines for appropriate interactions with Dalton students,” De Jesus wrote.

‘Currently, all employees are fingerprinted upon employment and we conduct a background check.

‘Every year they attend training in the field of boundaries and prevention of sexual harassment.’

Naaman’s sudden resignation has also alarmed some parents, who relied on her for college advice for their children.

“It was a really big surprise,” a former Dalton parent told the New York Post.

“Everyone has been talking about it, but no one really knows what happened.”